Demon Heart
by KaFae
Summary: The Senshi find that a mistake made is going to cost them everything that they hold dear and have believed in. Pluto and Saturn have been lost to a strange and unknown enemy and the Time Gate has been broken.


**DISCLAIMER:  
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This fic has been created for entertainment purposes only and no profit or other motive was behind it. Sailor Moon was its characters were created by Naoko Takeuchi and are her property. The characters used in this fic are borrowed to have some fun with**  
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Chapter 1: It All Starts Somewhere**

"Don't worry, what is going to happen must happen but you will come out better and stronger for it." I listed to my voice but it wasn't my voice that was speaking. "Why won't you come out? You keep talking to me in my dreams why won't you just talk to me like we have in the past?"

"I cannot talk to you like that because all of times you are referring to didn't happen. Your future self never really came to you before, she was just an illusion, an agent of another power and I cannot let you see me because it would change too much in the time stream. What must happen will be very difficult and hard on you but you must never give up on yourself. Remember Setsuna we cannot ever allow the darkness to win far too much depends on us."

I was very confused now. How could the other times that I talked with my future self be illusions and what darkness could be coming? I hadn't seen anything in the time stream between now and Crystal Tokyo that could cause any problems. Perhaps this was all a trick of some sort to try and confuse me so that I might miss something important.

"I know you are starting to suspect that I actually might be a trick of some sort and it doesn't matter if you believe me or not because what is going to happened cannot be prevented. Also, the reason you can't see what is coming is that the Time Gate will be the cause of the problem. It won't be someone or something using it that will cause horrible damage to the timestream. Instead, it will be caused by the actual presence of the gate itself. You must remember that the Time Gate is a device that came into our world from unknown origins and that it was modified to suit our purposes. The actual purpose that it had is unknown and what it might have done to those that made it was also uncertain. Many people during the Silver Millennium objected highly to keeping the device around but once they determined that there was no way to actually get ride of it did they agree to proceed with modification to it. Most of them wrongly believed that changing it would make it safer. It was an impossible to task to take on because nothing can make the Time Gate safe for us."

Ok, so this voice sure know a lot about the Time Gate. It even about the origins of the gate which was a highly classified matter during the Silver Millennium. I still wasn't going to believe everything it told me. You don't get to be nearly as old as I am without learning to be skeptical of almost everything you hear. "So, exactly what do you want me to do? If the gate is going to cause this horrible problem and not being able to see where the problem is going to come form is going to severely limit my abilities." However, you never just leave an open door unexplored because the information you get just might save your life.

"All you need to do is stay alive and never give up hope. Hope that someday you will again find happiness, comfort, and love. You must always keep those things close to your heart, Setsuna."

* * *

The light shining in my eyes was starting to bug me and the temperature in the room was getting uncomfortable. It must be time for me to finally crawl out of bed. Lets see, the clock is showing a nice 11:30am. I guess that dream did bug me a little more than I thought it did and when I last noticed the clock it showed 4:19am. I am generally up with the drawn expect on days like this. It was just a part of my nature and I could tell when the sun was beginning its rise and would get up with it. Although, when you have dreams where you are almost awake and still asleep they always make you feel like you missed out on the whole night. In retrospect, I really think that I shouldn't have taken the room with the southern view when Hotaru and I moved in here. It is just very hard to say no to her when she had her heart set on being able to decorate a room in her special way and this room would have been too bright. Hotaru had pointed out that I always liked to watch the sunrise so this room would really suite me better. It was good reasoning at the time but the solar gain on this side of apartment was pretty high. 

I should go ahead and get up to face the day on this wonderful Sunday morning and see about some breakfast, or lunch about now. I do really need some coffee, the stronger and darker the better. A nice strong cup would be perfect to get ride of the horrible taste in my mouth. Judging by how I feel right now I bet that I will have to put some extra effort into my appearance today. It wouldn't do to have my image slip as it is very hard to inspire others with your wisdom when it looks like you sleep in your clothes for a week.

A quick peek around the corner and with no Hotaru anywhere I made a quick run to bathroom. Safely hiding my current appearance from the world I needed to get a look at the damage. Hotaru and I are like a pair of sisters now but it still really bugged me to have people see what I look like when I first get up. Thinking back, I should have insisted we look harder so that I could get a room with a bathroom attached as these runs to the bathroom were pretty hard when your mind is still foggy.

Now to see how bad it really is. YIKES, I don't think I like this mirror anymore. I had no idea that my hair could almost do the Elvira thing without all the needed hairspray and conditioners. It is going to be a real joy getting that mess tamed and the bags under my eyes are going to sure need work. My eyes look really bad too as they are all red. It was really hard to tell where my nice red eye color started and the redness around them ended. I better still have my eye drops in here.

* * *

Hotaru looked up from her book as she heard the shower turn on and Setsuna start to dig through everything in the cabinets. She figured that she must have had a hard night again. It wasn't the first time that she started to get worried about Setsuna's trouble with sleep recently. Why she always put so much effort into how she looked everyday was beyond her. Her hair was always just perfect and how in the world did she put up with it being that long Hotaru would never understand. Since, she had gotten older she had grown her hair out until is was down to about her shoulder blades but when she had let it get longer she quickly found that it was just too much trouble to keep up with and had it trimmed. 

She really appreciated that Setsuna had agreed to help her move out since she just couldn't afford to do it on her own right now. Surprising, begin twenty-two and out on your own wasn't the most wonderful thing in the world like you think it might be when you are a teenager but she did get some nice benefits from being older. She had filled out nicely and grown quite a bit taller and was currently 5' 6" tall. At first, it had been disturbing because she thought that she might turn out to look just like Mistress 9. Once Setsuna had pointed out to her that Mistress 9 had probably just aged her body she figured that there wasn't much to do about it. She just had to think that it was Mistress 9 who stole her appearance and not the other way around. Although it took her about a year to get over and it and move on.

After what seemed like ages in the bathroom Setsuna had started to make her way down and when she came into view Hotaru just had to stare at her. Her hair as usual was just perfect and her face showed off Setsuna's exceptional skill with her makeup. She had done her best to make sure that she was expressing an air of cool confidence and control and would have succeeded except for one thing. "Setsuna why don't you have any other clothes on besides that towel?" At that, Setsuna turned a bit red.

"Well, it turns out that I forgot to pick up my dry cleaning and I was wondering if I could borrow one of your skirts and don't give me that look. Just because I am the Senshi of Time doesn't mean I get everything exactly right, I just like people to think that I do."

Honestly, Hotaru often wondered why she didn't just open up to the others more like she did with her. She had found that Setsuna and her had become very close over the last three years. Even more like a family than when they were living with Haruka and Michiru. She suspected that it had a lot to do with how they both viewed their Senshi powers as a special duty that must always be tended too and worked on. Where the others had gone on to do other things after the battle with Galaxia, Hotaru had continued to work on refining her abilities and Setsuna was always looking after the Time Gate. She had even helped Hotaru to figure out do some new things with her abilities that she hadn't even considered before. The best thing that Setsuna had given her were some old journals and records keep by some of the previous Saturn's. It had helped her immensely to be able to see that she wasn't just about death and destruction but instead about the balances between life and death, pain and joy, and so on. It had given her a good bit of peace about who she was. So really, a skirt was really no problem at all.

"You know that you have only ever done this one other time that we have been living here and that was when I got bored one night and rented the Terminator series. It must have given you nightmares for a week and you where so paranoid about all computers for some time afterwards. It was pretty silly watching you looking at all the computers if they were some horrible monster you hadn't noticed before. So, you might as well tell me what is bugging you know while we hunt you down a nice skirt for the day."

As they walked up to Hotaru's room she thought about how silly it was for calm and sure Setsuna to get all worked over a series of old movies. The look she gave every talking gadget, the watching of all the news channels for anything that might been seen as a "rise of the machines", and of course, who knew how many hours or days she spent sifting through events at the Time Gate had seemed a bit serious back then. Now though, it was good for a really good laugh but if she ever told anyone else about it Setsuna would probably drop her off in some horrible unknown part of time. It was always best to stay on a persons good side when they could do any number of unthinkable things to you.

Once they entered the room Hotaru heard Setsuna intake a sharp breath and then remembered that she hadn't seen her latest additions to her room. When they had first moved in she had thought about decorating it similar to the way she keep it when she was with her father. As she thought about what she would like to do she figured that could do a much better job this time. With a purpose and vision in mind she had founds ways to create a very ambient lighting that spread out a nice twilight view across the room which she had painted with a purple color changing paint. If you looked at the walls one way they would appear to be a light purple but when viewed from a different angle they appeared to be a violet color with wonderful gradients in between. On the ceiling a dropped transparent multi-layered glass had been suspended with different prisms and glitter trapped in the glass. It all gave off a wonderful view but what she had just finished was really impressive. Using some computer programs, she was able to create some simple holograms and then light them up with several old lasers she had salvaged. She had setup them up to display an amazing scenic view across the walls of room when lit up. Her lamps added the final touch to create a view that made you think that you had just started walking around on some strange new world. Hotaru was very impressed with her work but wasn't finished. It was all like great works in that they were never finished. It was just a matter of when she could find some more free time to work on it.

"Hotaru this is really, really impressive. I am just amazed at how magnificent a place you were able to create inside this room." It was rather fun to watch Setsuna's impression of a gold fish as she examined everything in the room.

"I am glad that you like it, but you still have to tell me about what has been bugging you recently. You are not allowed to be cryptic and all knowing either because I know that you don't understand it yourself. If you did it wouldn't be bugging you. So, what skirt did you want to borrow and you can start with the summary." Hotaru looked back and saw that Setsuna had one of those mildly annoyed looks on her face. Well, sometimes you had to push her a bit to get her to let it out plus it was good for her in the long run.

"Well, I was thinking about that nice tan one that you never seem to wear would go nice with one my of white button blouses. As for what has been bugging me, well I have been having some very strange dreams recently."

"I think I will just give you skirt since I can't seem to remember why I purchased it. It was never really my style anyways." Hotaru dug around and got out the skirt in question which was a lighter tan color and would sit a little above Setsuna's knees and knowing her would look great. When all of them had first met her, Setsuna had a horrible fashion sense but after a while she developed a wonderful taste in clothes that even made Michiru jealous. She had a way of making nice clean and simple clothes appear sophisticated and balanced. No one else that Hotaru knew could pull off the same effect. Hotaru had figured that being separated from the the world for such a long time had made it hard for Setsuna at first but she quickly caught up with them and even surpassed them in a few ways.

"Ok, now that we have that taken care of lets get down to these dreams of yours. What goes on in them?"

* * *

I don't really know why Hotaru bought that skirt either, she always looked better in darker colors. She did have some really nice lighter color tops that would set off her dark features really well and some of the standard gray business like suits but a few items like this skirt never did go with her features well. 

Now how should I go about explaining these dreams. They weren't really bad. I was just loosing a lot of sleep over them. However, Hotaru had developed a very annoying ability in the last few years to be able to tell if someone was telling the truth or when things were being hidden from her. She would let people get away with quite a few things but if she considered it important you were out of luck. She would hound you all the way to hell until she got it out of you. Very troublesome.

"Setsuna, that look isn't going to get you out of this. If I have to I will tie you a chair to find out what is going on."

Damn, I knew then that even though I hadn't had enough time to sort these dreams out for myself yet I was going to have to tell her what she wanted or I was going to end up tied to a chair. Any way you look at as Sailor Saturn Hotaru was no pushover. It would also have been nice if she had never met that boy when she got to college at times like this. The relationship didn't last long, but she had come away a bit different. One thing that she found out is that she loved being tied up and when I learned about it had shocked me. She had explained that "If you always have to worry about destroying the world it feels really good to have that responsibility taken away from you" and that bound seemed to provide a perfect release for her. She had suggested to me on several occasions that I should try it but it aways scared me. Being a control freak didn't seem to lend itself to being vulnerable. I had always wondered how she got introduced to it and had asked a few times but I only got a smile and a slight blush for an answer. She had a few other boyfriends since them and none of them worked out either but she keep say that she would find someone prefect eventually. I knew that search for her was going to be a long one. Well enough thinking, I should get dressed and tell her all that is going on.

"Follow me to my room and I will talk about as I get dressed."

"The dreams had started about four nights ago. I just realized that I was no longer asleep but I was not awake either. There wasn't anything around me, actually it was nothing, a very encompassing pitch black nothing. I tried to look around and found nothing and I couldn't even tell which way was up or down. Say, do you think that these shoes would go well with this?" I held how a pair of dark brown t-strap heels that were only about three inches high. Since I was 5' 8" any heels often gave me a nice height advantage and for some reason people often listen better to those who are taller than them which often made my job easier.

"Those shoes would go really well with that skirt, but stop trying to distract me." The shy and quiet girl everyone knew was still there but Hotaru wasn't shy with her friends anymore and could be very forceful when she needed to be. It still surprises me when when she does it because I still think of that quite and shy girl and often forget how much has changed in the eight years since she was 14. The Time Gate allows you watch and adjust events but it never made you a part of them. Being with Hotaru as she grew up was experience like none that I had ever experienced before.

"I'm not trying to distract you, I just wanted your option." Hotaru gave me a look that clearly stated that she wasn't going to buy my bridge either. A little diversion tactic like that would have worked much better on the other girls. Hotaru liked to look nice but was not by any means a fashion queen.

"Anyways, what happened next is that someone from behind me embraces me. She then tells me that she is very sorry for what is going to happen and that I must never loose hope. The weird part is that I can tell that she is actually me but not me. I get the feeling that she has been through horrible suffering and pain and wishes that she could somehow protect me from it."

"How do you know that she is you? Since you didn't see her you don't really know and appearances mean nothing in a dream. It could also a distraction of sort, maybe it was designed to place you off balance and miss a key event in the time stream."

"I just knew you were going to say that. Sheesh and people call me paranoid." Hotaru just crossed her arms at that. I knew she was thinking that the pot was calling the kettle black. "Actually, I had thought of the same thing as well. The only really bothersome part is that she talked about the origins of the Time Gate which were highly classified and only two people were alive in my time who actually knew about them. One of them was me and the other was the Queen. Also, it really felt like she was me and I felt her crying for what she said was coming but she claimed that in the end a wondrous thing would also happen."

I was just finishing putting on my shoes and moving over to my makeup stand to finish brushing my hair when Hotaru surprised me a bit by grabbing my hand and stating very firmly, "I won't let you get hurt. You and I have both seen too much pain and we don't deserve to be hurt anymore. What good is joy if it costs you everything?"

I focused all of my attention on Hotaru and asked, "So what do you think we should do?"

"I think that you should go see Rei today and talk with her and try to be open with her about it. I know, I know you really hate having to open up but the others are just as much a part of the Senshi as we are and Rei has always the best at helping infer meanings from dreams and how they might actually relate to the world around us."

"The other problem Hotaru is that my other self said that there was no way to actually stop the darkness from happening. That the darkness was going to be caused by the Time Gate itself." At that she looked surprised, shocked, and then angry.

"I don't care what this person might have said and if it was you how come she didn't just appear and talk to you like before? I find it hard to believe that you would let some horrible disaster just happen. Sometimes you can be a rather cold person but I know that there is a caring side to you."

"Of course, she had an answer for that as well. I was told that those other visits from my future self were actually illusions."

"Great! She has an answer for everything to discredit her which makes me even more suspicious. Setsuna, I really don't like this. I mean you told everyone that after Galaxia we wouldn't have any more trouble and I always hated that because the others just stopped working on being better Senshi and all left to do their own things. I had often thought it might have been better to come with a good lie and now this comes and how are the others going to take it? I bet some of them might even think we made it up to just get them to start to think about practicing again. Especially since we have been pestering them a lot recently."

"Luna will be on our side firefly. She has yelled at all of them on many occasions for not working harder and only Ami seems to keep working on things on a regular basis, just not nearly enough. Well, it is a little after 1:00 now and if you want me to go see Rei I had better get going."

* * *

Once Setsuna was out the door Hotaru held out her hands and let the Silence Glaive come to her. She didn't like it that now after things had been quite for so long that something had come up but then again she had been expecting it. It just seemed too easy for them to not any have any more enemies to face between now and when Crystal Tokyo came to be. How could you resolve the fact that Crystal Tokyo was to rise out of some great disaster in the future with what Setsuna had told them? Hope for the best but plan for the worst is how she had been living her life for the last five years. Hotaru hoped that maybe, just maybe her planning might pay off, but right now she had some serious work to do and hope alone doesn't get the job done. 

Once the Silence Glaive was firmly in her hands Hotaru grabbed the base of where the blade split into two parts and pulled. In each hand she now held a different sword. In one of her hands she help a long straight blade and in the other was a shorter curved blade. One of her surprises while reading some of those older journals was that the Silence Glaive was actually a large series of weapons all put together. It had many different faces, but they all served one purpose, to amplify her powers in amazing ways.

The core of Saturn's power was the balance that existed in everything and Hotaru wondered again if she was the only Senshi of Saturn to truly figure it out. The journals of the other Saturns all had different views and outlooks on what it was that they did and how they did it but as Hotaru examined them she noticed a reoccurring theme, balance. The Silence that she could bring was the result of one such balance, infinity and nothing. Using infinite power to create the ultimate destruction but balanced by the nothing that must take its place.

Balances of every facet were a part of Saturn's domain and her greatest ability was being able to adjust those balances. However, changing the balance required energy and the counter balances could take her life if she wasn't careful and that is why the Silence Glaive had been made. The Glaive's purpose was to extend her control and strength to make even bigger adjustments than what the basic powers of Saturn could provide.

Hotaru could feel the shape and flow of all the balances of everything around her. She reached out and spread her senses wide looking for a particular spot, Ami's bedroom, and quickly found it. The version of the Glaive that she now held was very unique in that each blade could become a balance for anything and independently of each other. She adjusted one blade to become a perfect balance for the area thus forming an anchor. She then altered the other blade to become the perfect balance for the area she was after. As she did this she could feel the universe already adjusting and trying to put her perfect balance in Ami's room but because of her anchor it would bend and twist space-time. Once it settled down she released her Anchor and found herself standing in Ami's bedroom in Austin, Texas. Ami may not like waking up right now but they needed to talk. Hotaru just hoped that Ami would take what she looked like well because only Setsuna hadn't seen what her Senshi outfit looked like now. Hotaru put the two blades into the their sockets on either hip and relaxed for a minute.

When she first learned that trick it required all her willpower and focus to pull it off and it was very slow but now she could do it in the blink of an eye. At first she had put too much effort and energy into it and quickly found out that such an effort was almost impossible. After her first failures she decided to try to opposite approach and use just a tiny amount of energy. When that worked she had refined it and come across the key, that it was how perfect the balances she created where. The better the balance the faster and more effective were her energies used and now she could travel to just about anywhere with no effort.

"Ami. Ami. AMI!" Ami hadn't become much of a hard sleeper until she started to work in the tech industry, well at least according to Minako who would see Ami on a semi-regular basis. She smiled then because she knew exactly what might get Ami's attention, one of her worst nightmares. "Ami you are failing your classes. Get up and study," she said in her most stern motherly voice.

Ami woke up instantly and could have sown that she heard someone telling her that she needed to study. A quick look at the clock told her it was just after 10:00pm, so she had been asleep for a little over an hour. Perhaps what she had for dinner was actually a bad choice and she roller over to go back to sleep when she realized that she wasn't alone in the room.

Ami flew out of the bed going after her henshin pin in the closet when strong arms quickly grabbed her and pushed her back onto the bed. "Well, I guess maybe I scared you a bit more about the exams than I thought." Ami knew that voice and looked closely at her would be attacker. Hotaru sure looked different enough. Gone was the long known fuku that the other sailors wore and what took its place was a surprise. She was wearing a pair of black flat shoes that had ankle straps with a silver thread pattern on the top and black stockings. She still had a skirt but it was much longer now and just graced her knees and was still pleated. Hotaru's skirt also had a silverly threat pattern that ran along the base. Her shirt was a long sleeved shirt that had a row of silver buttons near the top and a collar from a dress shirt and was also black. Her hands were covered by black fingerless gloves with another silvery pattern on the backs of them. Missing was her tiara and choker and in their place she had a single silver chain that hung about her neck and a single silver ring on her right hand. However, what really surprised Ami where the pair of blades with a gleaming razor's edge that hung on either of her hips.

"Hotaru how in the world did you get here and what exactly is that outfit?" Ami could tell that she was in her Senshi form but she had never seen or heard of anything like this. Her computer suggested that it was possible to modify the Senshi outfit for different purposes and camouflage should they need it but the power rolling off of Hotaru felt different. It felt truly dangerous and it scared Ami a bit and how the heck did she get in her bedroom anyways.

"This is actually my true form as the Senshi of Saturn. While the rest of you were slacking off and assumed that what you knew was all you needed I keep on digging deeper. Just because Setsuna appeared to be the same after all the years she has been a Senshi doesn't mean that there wasn't more to what we are."

Ami bristled at that comment, while she may not have worked very hard in a while on her Senshi form Ami figured that she had never slacked off in her whole life. "We didn't just slack off, we needed a break from everything. Plus, Setsuna told us there weren't going to be any more enemies for us to fight off before Crystal Tokyo so isn't it fine that we finally found a life for ourselves?"

"No, it isn't fine. How can their be no more work for us when we know that Crystal Tokyo comes from some horrible disaster. Shouldn't our duty be to protect everyone?" Hotaru knew she wouldn't get anywhere but she just couldn't let this issue drop. It was the source of long nights and nightmares for her. Most of the other Senshi didn't understand what it meant to her to be able to help people. While Hotaru had thought of herself as nothing but a tool of death and destruction she had tried her best to become something else and had helped people as best as she could. She worked so hard at it that it had started to hurt her. She then realized that perhaps there was more to her than she knew. With a firm resolve she decided to talk to Setsuna about it and wasn't going to allow her to give back some vague and cryptic answer. It had been the scariest moment in her life, trying to be firm with Setsuna was like climbing everest in your underwear in Hotaru's mind but actually it turned that she was happy to help. Hotaru knew she wasn't going to win this point with Ami but she still felt that she always had to try.

"Hotaru we have had this argument several times before and it has never gotten us anywhere. Why don't you tell me why you are here." Hotaru's expression became rather grim and unsettling and Ami wondered, not for the first time, that perhaps they had all made a big mistake when they ignored her and tried to find a normal life for themselves.

"I think a major disaster is heading right for us. Whats worse is that it is right around the corner this time instead of far into the future and I believe it involves the Time Gate. The Time Gate has always been our biggest asset and also our greatest threat. I am worried that we may not have been paying our taxes and the tax man has come to collect." Ami certainly wasn't expecting the Time Gate to be a problem and it actually sounded rather outlandish. The Time Gate had been around long before them and would be around long after them, for it to be a problem just didn't seem possible.

"What makes you think that? There hasn't been anything different recently and Setsuna would have called all of us if something came up. You have lived with her for several years now and know how careful she is about time. Do you really think that she would miss something that big?"

"Setsuna has been having dreams of herself warning her of disaster. The reason why I believe that it is coming quickly is that in her dreams she says she is sorry for what happens but nothing on how to prevent it. To me it feels like a warning that there isn't any time left and she is asking for forgiveness. In addition, I think the threat is something with the Time Gate and not it getting used for a nefarious purpose." Hotaru really hated going around in these circles with the others about this stuff and she wished that they would just get off their collective asses and really look at the world. Ami was the only one who would try to at least look at the problems she would talk about and sometimes even agree with her. The others all thought that she was being paranoid and should really go see a shrink. As she had talked Ami expressions had first been surprise and then she shifted into her cool analytical mode. She could see the problem with Setsuna starting to have dreams about herself of a sudden. Hotaru knew that Ami would try to look at the problem from all possible angles before making her decision.

"Ok, go on. What else makes you think it has something to do with the Time Gate specifically?"

"Let me explain the true nature of my Senshi abilities. I represent balance and the ability to alter balances between things. When I use my power to destroy a world it is actually parts of two things, infinite power and absolute nothing. I can also feel the balances in everything and adjust them however I want and that is how I got here. I used part of the Silence Glaive to attract an area of space in here with the other part being used an anchor to create a tunnel."

"I will have to take your word for it, but go on." As usual Ami was being a scientist and currently taking the skeptics view. She always needed proof before she would take a position on an issue. It was both a blessing and a real curse at these times but if Hotaru could get Ami come around then the others wouldn't need to be convinced because they would just take Ami's word for it.

"I can feel the Time Gate's presence and its affect on things around us. It isn't a good feeling, it is like something has been savagely ripped out to alter the flow of the universe. I know that the universe will make adjustments to try and balance itself and I feel these adjustments on everything that I do but I don't see them happening on the things the Time Gate has altered. When I use my powers I have to make balances and adjustments or the backlash will kill me and hurt others around me. Lets say you can create an imbalance but as it gets bigger the force that comes to finally restore balance can be enormous and if it releases all at once the results are disastrous. I believe that since those balances appear to be absent with the Time Gate that a large amount of pressure has built against it and that the backlash is going to destroy the gate or time itself."

"Hotaru I think you are guessing here. You don't really have any proof of that and how do you know that the designers didn't somehow take that into account. It has been around for a long time and many others have looked at it as well. I would be very surprised to find out that it wasn't carefully planned out." Hotaru knew that this was coming and without any evidence to back it up it was just as good as fiction in Ami's world. Ok first thing, lets give Ami something to work with.

"I know Ami, but let me show you what I am talking about." Hotaru held out her hand and let a small light form in her hand. It was a soft blueish light and not very bright. "This light isn't much but notice how it caused some darkness to form around the far side of the room. Watch what happens as I make it brighter and notice what the outskirts of the room do."

Ami watched and was surprised to see that it got darker on the far side of the room. "Hotaru, why is it affecting the room like that. I can understand the balance part but why if you create the light does it also become dark at the edges."

"It is because I am letting the balance be adjusted in the same area and not allowing for an imbalance to take place. Balances can be adjusted over distance and spaced over time. Think about how our world works and you get the idea. We don't really see the adjustments because they are separated over a large distance or a long period of time but the principle is the same. Now what is really shocking is this." Hotaru grabbed one of her blades that made up a part of the Silence Glaive and used it to make a blinding room filling light.

"Look at this Ami, the change is very strange. If you look at the light it is amazingly bright but examine the shadows. They too are very dark and deep. Now watch as I stop the balance from happening right now and let it build a little." Hotaru let the room be bathed in the light for a little while and Ami had grabbed the Mercury computer to start to analyze the effect.

After about five minutes she let the light fade and the balance take place. "Hotaru what is going on? I can't see anything, I can't even see my computer display!" Hotaru knew this was going to happen but that it would pass quickly as the universe balanced things out. "Don't worry Ami. It will pass. See, it is fading now. This effect was caused by building up an imbalance and not spacing the adjustment out over time. If my light caused a such a dramatic change just image what something that has operated over millenniums has built up. Just think of the damage it could cause if nothing is able to regulate the rate of the adjustments that must happen."

"Hotaru this is just amazing, I have never even considered something like this and what my computer tells me matches up with your explanation. Although, if we have to have such balances then I don't understand how do our Senshi powers work? Where are the adjustments and what are they?" Hotaru grimaced, these were questions she didn't want to deal with because of some rather unsettling things she turned up in the history of the Moon Kingdom.

"Ami those questions have very unsettling answers that I will get back to later but what else do you want to know?"

"Well, lets get back to what I was talking about with the designers of the Time Gate. Don't you think that they would have taken all this into account?"

"No I don't. Setsuna told me that the Moon Kingdom never designed it. It was discovered by accident and its true purpose was unknown. They modified it to suit their needs and only a handful of people ever really knew about it. All of the specifications about it were lost in time and only two people even knew of its existence when Setsuna was alive. Those people were Setsuna and the queen. Doesn't something like that suggest that somehow all the people involved with it in the beginning died and that it had to be covered up."

At that Ami became a bit alarmed. If the Time Gate was something that was of unknown origin then it threw a hole bunch of assumptions that she had been working with right out the window. "Alright, that is a pretty big concern. What is it you want me to do?"

"I need you to help me convince the others that there is more going on and for them to start working their butts off. They need to find out everything they can about themselves and their powers. I also need you to come with me to talk to someone who knows about our rather ugly history and origin. He is an absolute pain to get answers out of and while we are there I will explain how our powers are balanced. All of this sort of fits together."

Ami wasn't sure what to make of that. Someone who knew about where their powers came from was troubling and then that Hotaru saying that it was an ugly history did suggest that maybe the peace in the Moon Kingdom had a large price. Ami had wondered about that herself because it seemed impossible to be able to create a perfect society. "Ok Hotaru, I will come with you and try my best with the others. You know they are going to be a bit upset and Usagi just might break down and cry. She was really happy to have a break you know."

Hotaru let out a large sigh. It didn't really matter that they might get upset, what mattered was them getting back to what they should have been doing all this time. "Get dressed Ami and come get me. I will just be in your living room."

* * *

Ami didn't know exactly what to make of all this. Hotaru had gotten very paranoid in the last few years and Ami had tried to help calm her down but she had insisted that something was very wrong with the world at large. Ami knew that Hotaru and Setsuna had become like sisters and that Setsuna had opened up to Hotaru and told her everything she knew. She had hoped that maybe Hotaru would settle down but instead she had insisted the inconsistencies where even bigger after hearing Setsuna's stories. It wasn't the first time that Ami had wondered if maybe she should have intervened on Hotaru's behalf and gotten her some psychiatric help. Right now she wasn't so sure that would have been the correct course of action. 

Having Hotaru show up looking vastly different and when she used the Mercury computer to scan what Hotaru was doing with her powers some very large surprises awaited her. Hotaru and Saturn were now one and the same, there was no difference between them. At first, Ami had assumed that Hotaru was transformed when she arrived but the computer told her that was not the case. The Silence Glaive had become the blades at her hips and its essence was spread all over her and the silvery markings on her clothes and the silver necklace she wore was something else entirely. Hotaru's ring had baffled the computer and Ami wasn't sure what to make of it. Of course, when Hotaru performed her trick Ami was just astounded by what her computer showed her. The computer had scanned everything that Hotaru had done and it was similar to their Senshi powers but Hotaru was drawing her power from an unknown source. What she had done was far more refined and in touch with everything around her. Ami knew there wasn't any way the others could come close to what Hotaru had been able to do and that bothered her. A big "what if" was starting to hang over head right now. Ami just hoped that everything would be alright.

"Hotaru I'm all dressed and ready," said Ami as she stepped out of her room. She made sure to get her henshin pen out of her closet on the way out. Hotaru was sitting on the floor and appeared to be lost in thought. "Hotaru did you hear me? I said that I am ready to go." Hotaru sighed a bit and then got up.

"Sorry Ami, I was just preparing for our trip. Where we are going is actually very difficult to find and it takes about all of the mental effort that I can put into it to do it." Hotaru removed both of her blades and then they were standing on the sore of a lake and Ami quickly found herself sick.

"Relax Ami. The altitude here is a lot higher than where we were. Grab your nose and blow hard until you feel your ears pop." Ami did that and things felt much better.

"Hotaru where are we exactly?" She still felt off but the world wasn't going around in circles anymore.

"I have no idea. I only found this place while looking for unbalanced areas. This area is just very different and hard to focus on." In truth it was damn near impossible to find without knowing where it was. Hotaru had stumbled upon it when she messed up one of her little jumps and ended up here but Ami didn't need to know that right now. Hotaru started walking toward the log cabin by the lake and called after Ami to follow her.

"Well its nice to see you again Hotaru. I have been expecting you and Ami for a little while now and you are only 13 minutes late. I would say you did a good job overall."

Hotaru eyed him a bit. He always threw her off guard and he was able to see through anything. She had never been able to fool or hid things from him. She figured that it had to be similar to what she could do, just much better. He appeared to be an older man, maybe in his fifties with a bald head and a clean shaved face. He wasn't very tall, maybe about 5' 2" and walked with a cane and always work brown pants with a white shirt. Although, he was doing something she hadn't seem him do before today, actually eating a meal of sorts.

She glanced at Ami who appeared to be taking everything in around the place. It was your average single room log cabin with a wood burning stove in the center. There was a table off to the right and a bed on the left. It was clean and well taken care of. There was nothing out of the ordinary to make you suspect that this old man could actually know so much about the Senshi and things long before them.

"Why don't you two sit down and join me for a meal? Hotaru today you are going to finally get the answers that you have been after but this knowledge will come with a price. If you stay you will be able to handle the darkness that is coming but will be unable to stop it from happening. If you choose to leave you will fail and loose everything you hold dear. Can you accept learning these answers knowing that one of your friends will suffer horribly and the rest of the Senshi will be plunged into a raging battle with impossible enemies of the most sinister type?"

Well that was not at all what she was expecting. Perhaps maybe some more vague and cryptic questions and answers but not 'I will tell you everything, but it will destroy the world' sort of thing. It really put her in a bad spot. How could she let her friends get hurt and placed into battles with enemies they had no chance of defeating? However, how could she not let it happen if it meant that everything was doomed? A major case of Catch-22 but Hotaru knew what her answer would be.

"Tell me everything." Ami jumped and stared at Hotaru. "Are you nuts," she blurted before even thinking. "How can you just say that without at least looking at this more carefully? Can you really believe someone who just says something like that without any evidence or support for their statements?" It was rare of Ami to get angry but right now she was a bit mad. They were who knows where, talking with who knows who, making decisions that affected only god knows what. It didn't sit right with Ami at all.

"Ami what he told us is the truth. I have been able for a long time now to see the truth in anything I am told and can even tell when a person is hiding details. As for our guest, I cannot tell what he isn't telling us but I am certain it is the truth. I know that if we want to succeed we will need the information." Hotaru was firm in her decision. It bothered her about what was going to happen but her planning over the years had strengthened her resolve for just such an occasion. After hearing Setsuna's dreams this only helped confirm her decision in her mind. Time was up and what she had to do now was find a way to save the world and the people on it.

"Hotaru, did you not notice that he didn't even mention me in those statements. Perhaps I could succeed where you fail, or maybe with both of us together we could come up with a plan." Ami knew Hotaru had made up her mind but she wasn't about to let her go blindly down such a dangerous path.

"Actually, Hotaru and Setsuna are the only ones who are going to be able to save everyone. There is a third person who is going to be involved and will assist them but I do not have any details about him. It is a very complex problem, I can see the patterns merging where Hotaru and Setsuna are able to overcome the darkness. However, those patterns show assistance from an unknown person that doesn't exist but he will be here with Hotaru and Setsuna to push back the darkness. What I know for certain is that without the information I tell you everything is lost."

"Well, lets get started," Hotaru informed him. She waited a minute with Ami grumbling before asking, "Is there something else you need?"

"Actually there is. I would like a kiss from you nice friend there before we begin"

Both Ami and Hotaru face-faulted at that. "You can't be serious!", yelled Hotaru while Ami sat there blushing.

"No I am not serious but since the mood had gotten so dark I figured I had to do something to lighten it. I don't have you call me Elvis for nothing, do I?"

Hotaru reached up and started rubbing the bridge of her nose. "Elvis" as he had her calling him today always made things difficult. She figured that the world could be ending with everyone screaming and running around in terror and he would do something stupid just like now before giving her the key that would allow her to save everyone. What a total pain.

"Elvis? Just what kind of name is that go by?", Ami asked with a little bewilderment in her voice. This guy looked old enough to be her grandfather and asking for that kiss had put him right in the same league as Rei's grandfather in her opinion. Ami was really starting to question Hotaru's wisdom for seeking information from such a strange lunatic out in the middle of nowhere.

"Ami don't worry he always does something really silly like this every time I see him. I can't keep track of the number of names that he has had me call him by and none of them ever fit him." Hotaru sat there with her arms crossed looking rather annoyed and getting a bit angry. Ami was sure glad she didn't have that look pointed at her because Hotaru could really look scary nowadays. Just the thought of sitting next to an angry Saturn had started to make her squirm. However, Hotaru's friend didn't seem to find any discomfort in the look he was getting.

"Can we start to actually get to what we came here for?" Hotaru had never tried any of her powers on him, but just might start today.

"Actually the both of you can call me by my real name, a'Fal. I am the essence of the last of the guardians that existed on this planet long ago."

Hotaru blinked a few times and found herself a bit lost. She thought that the Senshi were the guardians of the planet and the solar system. The straightforward manner in which he spoke had unnerved her a bit too. He was never direct and was always playing stupid games with her but perhaps what he actually had to say was very important. Either way, it made Hotaru sit up and start to pay close attention.

"What do you meant the last guardians? Aren't Hotaru and I guardians?"

"No you are not. The Senshi are our sworn enemy to be beaten back and destroyed at all cost. In our pride and arrogance we made several disastrous mistakes and the Senshi were able to overtake us in the end."

Hotaru was shocked and confused by that statement. What kind of guardians were they and why would the Senshi fight against them? Setsuna had mentioned that in the beginning of the formation of the Moon Kingdom that a terrible war had just been resolved. The Queen had sealed all of the records and declared that no one should ever speak of it again by the time Setsuna had come into power. Very little remained about what the war was about. Setsuna had never considered it very important which was why didn't have much information about it. Hotaru did a little digging but had always come away with very little.

"There are some records I have seen about a war during the founding of the Moon Kingdom but I thought it was mostly about the power struggle that usually happens before a new government is formed. Is this the war you are talking about?" Ami had found some material when she had first started to research the formation of the Moon Kingdom. She had thought that what she might find would be useful to Usagi when it was time to create Crystal Tokyo but strangely the records were very incomplete and scattered.

"What you are talking about Ami is actually the tail end of what happened between the guardians and the Senshi. Serenity had sealed all of the records and declared that anyone who tried to contact or work with the guardians would be put to death." A very shocked expression appeared on both of their faces then. What he had just told them was completely opposite of how everyone described the kind and gracious Serenity but they don't say that history is written by the victors for nothing. He let out a sigh and settled back for a long tale. "This will be a long story and will take a while so please try not to interrupt too much because we can't afford to be here till next week."

"Let me start with some history for the both of you. The guardians were formed from the essence of life and countered the force of the demons that they opposed. Each guardian has his or her own realm of power that they command. This realm of power was balanced so that if one had the ability to create light they could also create darkness. These balances also tended to run between siblings so that they shared each others powers. The guardians also functioned as an Avatar to some part of life. Some of them were Avatars to cats, birds, fish, or people. Even the core aspects were represented such as life and death. A guardians sole purpose was to cultivate life and protect their system from outside forces and the demonic army that was always waiting."

"Guardians were chosen out of the creatures of life and then given their powers. Those that were chosen were always perfect for their job. In addition to their powers they were given a great intelligence and awareness of the world. It would be stupid to have a cat that creates rain unable to understand the consequences of such actions. They also gained the ability to alter their form to better allow them to seamless interact with the world. Guardians didn't hide but immersed themselves in the world they came from. They took up causes and worked tirelessly to make the world perfect as they saw it. Conflicting ideas would happen but a council was formed to arbitrate such problems."

"Time passed and life grew and prospered on all of the planets in the system. Life had become amazing under the care of the guardians and humans had grown to be a part of it all. The guardians worked directly humans to provide for that growth and saw humans as a sort of an assistant. As more timed passed the people became more ambitious. They started to believe themselves to be the true heir to all that was before them and that guardians were merely standing in their way. It was here that the guardians and people first started to fight. After many conflicts the guardians decided that it was best if they withdrew from the sight of people. No more direct interaction with humans was permitted and many people who still wanted to work with the guardians were upset. The guardians were still very much a part of the world but instead they worked in the background preventing people from seeing and hearing them."

"This new arrangement worked for a little while but people soon became worried about what the guardians were doing. Being unable to work with them but still being able to see the effects of their work troubled many. It was this fear that lead to a movement thats goal was to rid the world of the guardians. These people feared that the guardians could act against them at any time. The core of this belief was that they believed that the guardians saw people as an obstacle that needed to be removed. Groups formed with the intent to find a way to stop and maybe even defeat the guardians. One of these groups, lead by a women named Serenity, reveled an object of evil that should have never come into this world. This object was referred to as the Ginzuishou."

Hotaru took a quick intake of breath and felt Ami tense as well. Now that was something she sure wasn't suspecting and she knew that what he had told her was the truth and that he wasn't holding back anything from them either. Hotaru had no idea what made him say that the Ginzuishou was evil but it had always made her extremely nervous.

"Wait! You can't mean that the Ginzuishou is evil. It has always been used for good and has only done good. I don't believe that what you are telling us is the truth." Ami just couldn't see that crystal as an evil force because every time Usagi used it she was able to perform wonderful miracles that always worked out perfectly. It was just laughable to think of Usagi as some secret agent of evil. If she was she was doing a horrible job of it.

"Actually Ami everything he has said is true. I can always tell when someone is lying or when they are hiding things from me and he isn't doing either of them."

"You sure that you aren't missing something. You and I both got to see up close how much evil corrupts with the battle with Galaxia. If the Ginzuishou was truly an evil object why hasn't it corrupted Usagi? How come she has been able to accomplish such amazing miracles with it? All we have ever seen is good come from using it. I find it impossible to believe that the Ginzuishou is evil in any way."

Hotaru had to agree with Ami on her points. However, there was the ever present 'but' hanging over statements just like the one Ami made. "At what cost was she able to do this these miracles?" Ami frowned and Hotaru could tell she was confused. "Ami from your studies in school you know that everything is balanced. The ever present law of conservation and I can tell you that it applies to our powers as well. So, how did Usagi do such things and what is the cost of doing them? The power had to come from somewhere."

Ami was very surprised. Hotaru had really grown in ways she hadn't seen or expected. Ami knew that Hotaru was smart but hadn't expected her to be able to form an argument that turned things back on her. Her argument was sound and called into question Ami's reasoning with a good paradox put forth. "I don't know Hotaru. Perhaps, the crystal uses an unknown and greater force than we are aware of."

"You are both missing an important piece of information here. Hotaru you are smart to worry about what kind of price the Ginzuishou has attached to using it. The origins of the Ginzuishou are unknown but the guardians do know who created it. It was created by a demonic master craftsmen and this fact greatly upset and confused the guardians. We had far too many questions and far too few answers to go by to form a course of action. The exact workings of the Ginzuishou are still unknown but we know that using it doesn't corrupt the user."

Ami was about to protest again but with Hotaru's instance keep quite and let him continue. She wasn't at all happy about such a statement and wanted an enormous wealth of indisputable evidence that proved it before she would even entertain the possibility. The inners had been through too much together fighting against evil to just accept a statement as outlandish as that one.

"The people who were with Serenity had come to fear and mistrust the guardians because the guardians didn't answer to anybody and were far too powerful to confront directly. Many people had started to consider them to be Gods and several religions had sprung up around them. Speculation ran wild on what the guardians might be planning and the general agreement was that the people believed that the guardians were planning to erase humans from existence. Even several of the religions starting preaching about the sins of people and that to be saved before the coming apocalypse they must change their ways and repent for their crimes."

"The guardians had no such intention but were working hard on a way to balance out humans with the rest of creation. It wouldn't do to erase them because it would damage the balance far too much. However, people had tipped the balance far to much in their favor and the guardians had to react in someway. Although, few people at the time considered that the guardians actual plan was to give other species the ability to compete with humans on a level playing field or to increase the amount of life on some of the planets like Jupiter and Saturn. It could be said that part of this problem lay directly at the guardians feet. If they would have taken the time to at least communicate then perhaps what came next could have been avoided."

"In their fear people turned to the one person who said that she had an answer and the ability to defeat the guardians. The Ginzuishou actually possessed the ability to be able to rip away a guardians power if they were not careful and Serenity figured that since the guardians thought it was impossible for them to be defeated they would respond to her challenge by only sending one guardian."

"Serenity was right and also very lucky. The guardian who responded was an Avatar of Fate and who realm of power was balance. She was called Lin and was very, very good at her job. She should have had no trouble stopping Serenity. However, the Ginzuishou proved to be too much for her to battle because it drew its powers and abilities from a source beyond her control. She fell that day and Serenity was able to extract her powers. Serenity used what she gained to create the first Senshi. The Senshi had the powers of a guardian but those powers were severely limited and they were only able to use a select few of the guardian's abilities without the assistance of the Ginzuishou. Serenity also tied the powers to a celestial body in the system to help her to control the Senshi in case they ever went rouge. She was even so cautious as to place a special bonding magic on the Senshi to make them loyal to her and her heirs alone."

Hotaru's mouth hung open. Some of the things that she had worked through while she was trying to dig deeper into her powers were exactly what he said they were. The magic that she found that bound her to the princess, the ties to Saturn, and the anchors that seemed to all be held by the Ginzuishou. It was far to much of a coincidence to ignore.

"The first Senshi that she created was Saturn but she found that to allow her to be effect against the others she had to give Saturn the weapon that Lin possessed. Even though Saturn was very powerful she was only a candle to the burning sun that Lin was. Serenity locked the weapon into a single form and tied the magic activation sequences to it."

"The guardians could have responded with a force big enough that it would have crushed Serenity and beaten back all of her forces but the guardians had a council to deal with. It took a long time for the council to decide what action to take and how to go about it."

"With time on her side Serenity went after as many guardians as she could and quickly accumulated a large power store in the Ginzuishou and the moon. With the amount of power she had gathered she was able to make four other Senshi. The Senshi she created were Mars, Mercury, Venus, and Jupiter."

"Any of the weakest of guardians is stronger than even Saturn but the guardians had learned that the Ginzuishou relied on them using their powers to be able to rip them away. If the guardians fought directly they figured that they would be able to overcome the resistance that Serenity had created. With this knowledge the council called together a force of guardians to kill Serenity, her Senshi and all remaining opposition. The strike force was also assigned the destruction of the Ginzuishou at all costs."

"The strike force attacked but quickly ran into trouble. It turned out that Ginzuishou was able to slowly drain them while they were on the moon. They believed that they would still be able to work through it but when they encountered the Senshi all hell broke loose. The guardians knew that Serenity has placed strict limits on them and that their powers were really nothing compared to theirs but what they didn't expect was for Serenity to be able to give them full access to the power she had taken with the Ginzuishou. The guardians were no longer on the winning side and found that they had to retreat before it became an complete blood bath."

"The next biggest shock happen mere days after the retreat. The guardians were terrified to learn that Serenity had developed a way to attack and drain them from afar. Once this happened there was little they could do and were being wiped out quickly. In desperation they created this place and poured all of their knowledge and remaining essence together to create me and a book. I don't have any of their powers which is why I was never targeted by Serenity and, as you know Hotaru, this place is very hard to locate."

"In their last hours something happened that was incredible. The device you know as the Time Gate appeared at the edge of the solar system. It was a device that no one understood and was forged out of the very essence of guardian magic. Serenity herself panicked when she found out that it was impossible to destroy or change with the Ginzuishou. Many considered it to be some secret weapon of the guardians that was going to destroy everything. It offered hope to the guardians here because they were able to learn that the Ginzuishou could be defeated and that guardians existed who were far more powerful than all of the guardians that had ever existed in this solar system put together."

"Serenity acted quickly and was able to capture and destroy the remaining guardians. With them out of the way she turned to the mysterious device and had it modified to serve her purposes. What it was actually designed to do no one was able to determine."

"Now this is really important Hotaru because it directly relates to what is going to happen soon. When they first started using the Time Gate it wasn't long before time and space ripped under the strain. When it ripped all sorts of strange and horrible things happened that have never been explained. After figuring out that they must balance out the changes in time they were ready to try again. The only problem is that it is impossible to really balance out changes in time and the strain has built up to a breaking point again."

"Now while that is the information you need to know about what the disaster is that is coming I am afraid that I don't know anything about how to stop it. Don't interrupt just yet because the rest of this is also very important." Hotaru was about to open with a thousand different questions and he didn't have the time for them. He had to finish up quickly because he could already feel his essence fading away.

"The guardians created me for two purposes. The first was to find a Saturn that could be turned into a guardian and the second was to pass on my knowledge of the guardians to that Saturn. However, later I was able to determine that I couldn't break any Saturn free but that she would have to do it herself. My best hope was you, Hotaru. When I found you bending space one day I nudged you into this area. I may not have any power but his place posses a little from the inside."

"How come I was able to break free?" He smiled at the question and Hotaru could tell that he was very happy with her.

"Two mistakes happened to be able to let you free yourself from those bonds. The first was that Serenity gave you access to a completed power, both sides of the coin, when she created Saturn. With both parts present any Saturn could examine her power closely and could wear away the bonds that were present. She later realized this mistake and added a special spell which would kill any Saturn that did start to break away. However, when Usagi saved you when you went to destroy the diamons she broke that extra restraint with Ginzuishou. With those restrains gone you were able to become a guardian, the first one that has walked this world in over 200,000 years."

"Wait, what do you mean 200,000 years. The Moon Kingdom only existed for 1,000 years and its end was a 1,000 years ago. What you have told us just doesn't fit with what we know and it all just seems too spectacular to believe. What evidence do you have to back up these claims?" Ami had found the story interesting but she found it to be a story and nothing else. It just didn't fit with what she knew to be true about the world and with his claims about the Ginzuishou she wasn't ready to take anything on faith. She wanted cold hard facts that she could wrap her hands around and until she had them she wasn't going to change her mind.

"Um, Ami I think that a large amount of what we knew is actually incorrect, " stated Hotaru.

"What do you mean Hotaru? I went to the moon with Usagi and the others while we were fighting the Dark Kingdom and I got to see all of the ruins. None if it looked much older than a 1,000 years, let alone 200,000 years. With that amount of time there just wouldn't be anything left on the moon."

"Ami I have been to moon as well. I also traveled to all of the other planets and moons trying to find more information and there was nothing left. Only the barest of traces on some of the frozen planets suggested anything, but still nothing of value. I couldn't find anything at all about the Moon Kingdom and was very confused. At first I figured that the final battle was far worse than I expected but once I heard about your travels to the moon I became worried."

Ami sat there with an open mouth and a very startled expression. She worked her jaw a few times. "You found nothing. How can that be? I saw those ruins with my own eyes, all of us did. It wasn't just some fancy dream we all had. Perhaps there is a special device that is still active that hides it from prying eyes."

"Maybe, but I would have been able to feel such a thing. There are other problems as well. For instance, the probes that NASA has sent everywhere should have picked up pictures of a civilization as prosperous as the Moon Kingdom was reported to be. It is also very hard to explain away the fact that none of the societies on earth have any recorded history about such a kingdom in the past. Several of those records are much older than a 1,000 years and I figured that such a kingdom would have had a profound effect on the people here. Even if all of civilization was destroyed on earth during the Final Battle something should have been left behind."

Ami's eyes had gotten bigger as Hotaru progressed through her reasons and felt a large hole in thinking get filled in. She should have looked at those things herself a long time ago. She had never thought it that important and was always so busy that she just never got around to it.

"Ah, Hotaru you have hit upon an important fact. You friend Ami traveled with Usagi who holds the Ginzuishou which would have made the reality that she saw different from yours. It is entirely possible that what Ami saw was accurate and correct and what you have reported is also correct. The key point you are missing is that the time was different between those points."

"What do mean? We didn't use the Time Gate when we traveled to the moon so how could the time be different?"

"The Ginzuishou was linked to the Time Gate and it often distorts the time around it when used to travel. What you saw Ami was actually several hundred thousand years in the past but you couldn't feel it. The Time Gate bends and alters reality and those parts connected to it. When you traveled to the moon you traveled along one of those bends. It is very easy for the Ginzuishou to do that but it is very hard for Hotaru to do."

"So what I had believed to be a large hole in the stories about the Moon Kingdom was correct and what Ami believes is also true. How come Setsuna doesn't know about these holes?" Hotaru felt very relieved because she now didn't have to worry about being a nut case. Although, it must be hard on Ami to learn that she had been missing some very obvious details. As the saying goes, 'the best place to hide is in plain sight'.

"Setsuna can't view these holes because she can only travel along those bends and curves that the Time Gate has created. It is similar to being blind in part of your vision. You never know what you are missing and it is very difficult to find the hole when looking for it."

Several pieces clicked together in Ami's mind just then. She was amazed that she hadn't seen solved it before now. No wonder Setsuna would be gone for a while and then appear again as if nothing happened. If she could only travel on these bends then she wouldn't be a part of the in between parts of time unless she was actually in the world at the time. She wouldn't need to be present when a bend didn't lead to a point because she didn't use the Time Gate to create the bend. It was a very confusing loop and it explained an enormous amount of things in the past. She still wanted more proof but wasn't ready to just toss this story out as yesterdays trash like before, well at least some parts.

"You are starting to make some sense now but I still need more," stated Ami.

"I don't have anything more to give you. Hotaru can give you all the evidence you need. She has been a busy girl examining everything she could get her hands on and has a wealth of information that you should examine. Ami you are very smart but even smart people will miss important things. Take the time to look over what Hotaru has found and I'm sure with your help the puzzle pieces will start to fit together."

Hotaru looked up and gave him a piecing stare. "It was the guardians that you were trying to save wasn't it?"

"You are correct. This is the end for me and without the information I have given you there wasn't any chance of the guardians coming back. You must remember that without the guardians the balance is incomplete and the demons will come. The Senshi do not have the power needed to defeat them or to make the balance correct. I am sure you have noticed several of the imbalances in the world and this is a part of it."

He walked over his bed and reached under and pulled out a large book. "This book is for you. It contains all of the knowledge of the guardians. The guardians knew that the first one would be born from a Senshi and also knew that she would be incomplete. You have a realm of power but are not an avatar to anything currently. You have already started to see the world in a different manner and your intellect is expanding but give it time. The book will answer your questions, just not always as fast as you may like those answers to come. Just relax and have patience with it and I'm sure you will do fine."

"Thank you. I guess we will never see you again."

"Don't worry about it too much. What I am is contained in that book. As for my last bit of advice to you, free Ami. All of you are important but you should really work very hard on her first." With that said Hotaru's strange friend who had bugged her but also pointed her into new directions winked out. Slowly everything around them started to fade out and they found themselves looking up at the night sky. They were surrounded by some half finished structures but nothing else remarkable was around them.

* * *

Finding Rei was always a bit of a chore these days. She had become quite the actress much to Minako's envy. I had thought about telling Minako that she should really focus her energies elsewhere. However, following through proved to very hard because I just didn't have the heart to take her dream away. Being able to hide behind "The timestream must be protected" clause always allowed me to escape telling them much about their futures. 

Today Rei was working on a new horror movie playing the role of the a strong willed woman who wouldn't lie down. Not like she ever had any experience doing that, no none at all. Rei did always make the character believable and it only help that her looks improved with age just like a fine wine.

Finding my way around the set took some work as they seemed to be setting up and moving everything around today. It didn't help that nearly everyone pointed me to different locations to locate Rei. It was exactly an hour, five minutes, and 32 seconds before I found her. Working with time has its advantages and at times like these it just makes you want to pull your hair out because you can feel the seconds ticking by as you waste the moments of your life. I always prided myself on my patience but I only seemed to have them for any length of time when I was present at the Time Gate. Needless to say I was quite frazzled when I finally found Rei.

"Setsuna, it looks like you are having a bit of bad day." Gee, could she had been doing a fire reading to know that I would have a bad day today or is it the fact that I have a grumpy look on my face. It could also be the sheen of sweat present of my face or how I was impatiently tapping my foot while I was waiting for her to stop talking with her staff.

'Don't let the serene smile fade, act cool confident and in control' I repeated to myself a few times. "Don't worry Rei I just liked looking around the set and sort of got carried away. Watching things from afar is often a poor substitute."

"Good point, but couldn't you just come back and look at things as you like?" Of course I could but perhaps I had other important times to work on. Perfect time to use my tried and true excuses.

"Rei, I must protect..."

"the timestream, I know. I just knew you were going to say that."

I gave Rei my best smile. The one that is mostly straight and says 'good, now why did you bother me with such details if you already knew the answer.' It aways got people to move on, well except for Hotaru these days.

"The reason I came out to find you today is that I have been having some strange dreams recently and wanted your help." Rei raised an eyebrow and started to eye me as a response. "I can't dig into the future to find the answers for the obvious reasons and your powers with readings often get enough information to solve the problem without altering the timestream much."

"I don't think you are telling me everything. However, I will give you hand. Meet me back at the shrine later tonight at around 9:00pm. Grandpa likes to see me and I always try to help out when I have a chance every now and then."

"Thanks Rei."

* * *

After my quick talk with Rei I went over to the malls to look at all the recent fashions. All my time spent at the Time Gate allowed me to see how things changed during history but it didn't come close to wonderful feeling I got being able to look at everything up close. To be able to feel the fabric and try on several of the dresses, skirts, and shoes always gave me such a high. I got so much enjoyment out of it that I usually spent large amounts of time traveling everywhere to see all the different styles. The only problem currently facing me was that Hotaru was demanding that if I keep on purchasing so many items that I get us a bigger home or a storage unit for all of it. She had even threaten to toss out any shoes I left lying about the house. Well, a girl needs a good selection of shoes to match with her outfits but Hotaru couldn't see the point in have over two hundred pairs of shoes. I had told her several times that it goes along with me being the Senshi of Time in that I needed to work with lots of different possibilities. She didn't see my reasoning in the same light thought. 

There wasn't much new that I hadn't seen before but I did find two nifty pairs of sandals to purchase. I had the store ship them to my address and I also got a pair for Hotaru. It was my new plan that if I slowly increased the number of fashion items then she couldn't complain about my stuff as much. It was 8:31pm and 12 seconds when that finished so I headed off to the shrine to meet with Rei.

I started climbing the steps of the shrine at exactly 9:10pm so I would be about 12 minutes and 14 seconds late. It would be just enough time to throw Rei off a bit. She had been getting too good at guessing when I would show up the last few times we got together. I had an image to maintain and Sailor Pluto doesn't give up her mysterious and all knowing image for anyone, well unless she comes across a bunch of cockroaches.

"Hi Rei." Rei was waiting on the top steps. She sure looked different without all the makeup, designer clothes, and hairstyling present. It was a nice contrast between the characters she played and the Rei they all knew and loved. Only the personality and soul was always the same no matter who she played.

"Your late." Not by my plan I'm not.

"I thought you had gotten me figured out?"

"You just love doing that don't you. I bet you even looked ahead in the stream to know that I would have everything all setup and ready for you to show up at exactly 9:00pm. Did it give you much enjoyment knowing that I would start to pace all over when you did show up by 9:08?"

Rei's temper hadn't improved over the years and she appeared to be developing some paranoia to go with it. She was always finding new and interesting ways to get even and some of them were pretty awful. "I didn't plan on making you worried or upset. I just got carried away looking at everything in the malls. I have a lot of missed time to make up for you know and the last time I took you with me you were begging to go home at only six hours in."

Rei grunted out an answer and moved back into the shrine. I followed behind quickly to try and not get her anymore angry. I should have looking into the timestream a little bit and avoided this flareup of Rei's temper. An angry Rei was a very difficult and dangerous beast to work with.

As Rei got ready in front of the fire I filled her in on the details, all of them. She was surprised that I was being so forthcoming about the details and it seemed to mollify her a bit about my tardiness.

"So why do you think this started to happen?" 'Well if I knew that I wouldn't be here now would I'. I knew that if I said that Hotaru would whack me upside the head for a least a week. She always like to say 'You don't carry a well seasoned stake into a pit of starving lions.' It always made me laugh a bit but she was right. It would be really stupid to bait Rei right now.

"I'm not sure but my instincts are telling me that the person I am hearing in them is sincere. If she is telling the truth is another question. I think that she is telling the truth but nothing has come up with the Time Gate and everything is still on track for Crystal Tokyo. I had thought for a while that maybe it was a reflection from some other time line that was interfering with ours but that didn't pan out either. Right now I am left thinking that it might just be the work of an overworked mind."

"What does Hotaru think?"

"I'm surprised you asked. I thought most of you hadn't been getting along since she came by one of your get togethers demanding that all of you stop slacking off. Usagi called me that night quite upset with her and told me that as the princess she wanted me to try and control her." Although while I was listening to her whine I keep on thinking that if she is the princess why doesn't she control her. Hotaru hadn't talked to most of them in a long time except for Ami.

"Most of us have been upset with her since then but that doesn't change the fact that as Saturn Hotaru will pickup on things that many of us miss."

"Actually Hotaru is the one who suggested I come and see you about these dreams. I know she has been worried about how Crystal Tokyo forms and the nature of the Time Gate. The problem is that she has started to go off and explore everything she can get her hands on. I have trouble keeping up with what she does most of the time and she didn't tell me exactly what she thought about it." I knew I was destroying my carefully crafted image with those words. It would probably be impossible to rebuild it with Rei since she seemed to always remember the details most people would like to have forgotten. There was no helping it though because I agreed with Hotaru that this course of action should be taken. It just bugged when I wasn't in complete control of the events surrounding me.

"I'm surprising I'm going to say this, but Hotaru was right in sending you to me. So, make yourself comfortable and lets see if the fire can show us anything about what might be going on."

* * *

Rei sat there with her head bowed and brow furrowed chanting away. She was working up quite the sweat in the process. I was getting uncomfortable myself trying to stay still. I wanted answers and it seemed that everything wanted to make me wait to get them and even though Rei had only been at it for 1 hour and 16 minutes and 43 seconds it was starting to fell like it had been a few days. 

All of a sudden Rei's face flew up as the fire jumped up in a roaring blaze. As I looked into the fire I could make out a man who I had never seen before. All around him the world was a barren landscape of destruction and at his right side stood Hotaru and on his left side was me. Hotaru and I were hard to make out in the images but the man stood out very clearly. He was taller than me and appeared to have the eyes of a cat along with a pair of fangs. His eyes seemed to carry a large sadness but also held the strength and blue color of forged steel. The worst part was that he was fighting against Usagi as she wielded the Ginzuishou. Usagi was in horrible shape and I could make our tear stains across her face but the man held a clam and determined face. It was easy to tell that Usagi was loosing the battle against him.

The fire's image faded and I found myself shaking despite the heat inside the room. Apparently Hotaru was right about us always needed to be prepared for new enemies and the new enemy was some unknown man, Hotaru, and myself. I worked far too long to allow something like to happen and if there was anything that I could do to stop this from happening I was going to take it.

"Rei what is going on? What does this mean?"

"From what I was able to tell is that somehow you and Hotaru are bound to that man. It also appears that you willing joined with him and at least Hotaru is married to him. I think you are also but it was hard to tell. As for why Usagi and him are fighting I can't tell you but you must realize this, he is very, very powerful, much more so than anything we have ever seen before." As Rei finished a cold pit of worry formed in my stomach. I would never try to help anyone who would hurt Usagi so how could I be helping this man of my own freewill.

"So what do we..." is as far as I got before I felt something happen at the Time Gate. I slipped into the Time Stream and got there as quickly as I could.

* * *

"Now what do we do?" asked Ami. It had been a rather long conversation and it had left Ami with far more questions than answers. Several of the topics had made her feel very uncomfortable. Why hadn't she noticed several of the holes in the story of the history of the Silver Millennium that Hotaru had pointed out? The five questions, four that start with a W were nagged at her (who, what, where, when, and how). 

All of the other Senshi counted on her to notice the details everyone else misses and now she had missed a huge number of important details. Hotaru hadn't stopped looking and had never given up digging for information and had found something that was both amazing and terrible. Hotaru had been bugging her for the last two years especially for her help. She had always put Hotaru off because she wanted a life for herself like the rest of them except, of course, Setsuna. She was paying for that mistake now and it really smarted.

"Well it looks like this place was where they setup that null area. Really amazing that they were able to mask and bend reality in such ways but it appears that everything has shutdown now. I can't feel anything and with the magic on it dispersed I don't think we will find much of anything useful. You should make a few scans with your computer to be sure and then we are going to take a trip." She should have been doing that from the start. Perhaps she was still dazed from learning that others could investigate and analyze things around them and that she wasn't nearly as special as she had once thought herself to be.

Ami pulled out her computer and set it up to get a complete scan of the area. "Where are we going?"

"Oh you are going to love this. We are going to Titan and then Pluto. Those are the only two locations that there is anything left to find and dig through. It is actually going to be an amazing surprise for you."

Ami's computer beeped and informed her of the results. "The computer didn't find anything different except for the age based on the area. The outskirts are normal but inside this area the computer putting the date at about 3,000 years in the future."

Hotaru laughed a bit and smiled. "I am not at all surprised. I would expect that whatever they did most likely affected the materials the computer uses for determining the age of an area. It doesn't surprise me, but from the conversation we had with a'Fal I got the distinct impression that time travel was very bad thing."

Ami agreed with Hotaru. If what a'Fal had said was true about how the Time Gate and the Ginzuishou works on the bends of space time it would create a huge mess. How could she be sure that the events the Senshi were acting on were not part of some bend that wouldn't occur in the time stream if just left alone. She didn't know and wanted to have a long talk with Setsuna after Hotaru and her were done.

"Anyways, we need to get moving. Our conversation lasted for a few hours with a'Fal and we just can't afford to waste any time. Come over and get really close to me and we will be off to Titan. This method of travel felt really strange for me the first time but I don't know how it might affect you. So if you can, please try not to dump what you had for dinner all over me." Ami was a bit worried about this trip but trusted Hotaru. She didn't find the trip here to be very bad so hopefully this trip wouldn't be any different. While thinking it all over she walked over and got close to Hotaru and proceeded to transform thinking it might help with what they were doing.

Hotaru grabbed part of the silvery thread on the back of one her gloves and pulled out a thin thread that didn't seem to unravel any part of the silvery thread on her gloves. Hotaru then wrapped that thread around Ami's waist and pulled her close. Hotaru pulled free both of her blades and went to work.

It was always hard to travel longer distances versus smaller ones and in the case of jumping between planetary bodies the process created a very strange feeling. Reaching out with her senses Hotaru found Titan and where she wanted to be. Now she focused her mental effort on adjusting the balances and poured all the needed energy into her blades. It was only a second or two before the world around them blurred, colored, and then was different. They now stood on the surface of Titan.

"Take my hand Ami and don't let go. I can keep a shield around us to protect us as long as you are close and that thread will help ease my workload to accomplish it." Hotaru could tell that Ami had a hard time with the travel. She had some important things to show Ami and they didn't really have enough time to come back a later.

* * *

The trip was much worse than she thought it would be. It felt like everything inside of her was trying to pull itself apart in all directions. Her head felt the worst and the trip had left her trying to figure out just which way was up or down. It took all of her will power to not lean over and dump her stomach contents onto Hotaru. She felt Hotaru grab her hand and just barely heard her mentioning to stay close. "Hotaru can I sit down for a minute? I feel really bad." 

"Sure, not a problem."

Ami eased down onto a nice sized rock behind them with Hotaru's help. After a few minutes of just sitting with her head bowed she started to fell the pain subside and figured that her Senshi abilities were finally catching up with the pain.

"I'm starting to feel better Hotaru but lets just sit here for a bit more, OK?" Hotaru sat down next to Ami and sighed.

"I'm sorry Ami. I didn't know that it was going to do such a number on you and I should have tried to put up a barrier around you. I will try it on the way back but you should really look around because this place is amazing. It isn't very often that you get see something that no human has seen up close in hundreds of thousands of years."

Ami did raise her head and look around and what she saw amazed her. There wasn't much light but her Senshi abilities more than make up for that. The horizon was closer than on earth but much further out than it was on the moon. She saw all sorts of different mountains, hills, valleys and creators. The landscape was littered with rocks of all shapes and sizes with a multitude of colors she were the result of different gases being frozen on them since Titan was very cold at the surface. The atmosphere was the most amazing part and she couldn't have expected anything like it. It had a yellow color for the sky but off in the horizon amazing hues were shown in blues and violets. It was all just simply amazing and she was glad that she got to see something so different from the everyday world.

"You can stop gaping Ami, but it sure is neat isn't it." Ami could only nod in agreement and wondered why the other Senshi hadn't thought about traveling to the various planets and moons in the system. If nothing else it would be worth the effort just to get to see these amazing views. Ami stated as much to her companion.

"Actually it is a good thing none of you ever tried that because I bet some of you might have died. When I first traveled out to the moon I almost did die before I was able to get back. It really surprised me that our Senshi abilities don't automatically protect us. Setsuna told me that the Ginzuishou usually takes care or protecting us in alien environments and that is why we usually travel with Usagi to such places. So if you guys ever did travel out here you would need Usagi. Also, if any of you got separated it most certainly prove to be a fatal accident."

Ami was very surprised to hear that. She had made the assumption, just like Hotaru, that as Senshi they would nothing to worry about. When she had traveled to the moon with Usagi it hadn't occurred to her that maybe something else was protecting them. Usagi didn't have the Ginzuishou at the time but it was contained in her and it was reasonable to assume that it would have protected her.

"Hotaru you really have grown in ways the rest of haven't. We never thought about questioning our past as much as you have and look at the mess it has left us. None of us have worked or changed nearly as much as you. I remember the shy and quiet girl you were but you have changed into a strong woman with a will of steel. Perhaps it is a result of what what our friend said about you being a guardian."

"It isn't that, helping and protecting people has always been a large part of me. A few years back I realized that I really needed to become stronger to handle my duties better. All of you know how worried I was about the formation of Crystal Tokyo. None of you knew that I was actually terrified of letting something use me again like Mistress 9 did. I changed because of those reasons and worked as hard as I could to make sure that nothing like what happened to me in the past could ever happened again."

"You could have asked for our help. All of us would have protected you."

"That is exactly what I don't want! I need to be strong enough to take care of myself. I am the strongest of the Senshi. I am charged with the greatest of the powers and responsibilities and I can't always depend on others to save me. In the journals of the other Saturn's that Setsuna gave me I learned that Saturn was a Senshi that many looked up to and called on for help. Saturn was strong, determined, and very smart. There was an accident somewhere along the way that destroyed the respect for Saturn and is why we remember people being scared of her."

Ami just shook her head. She could see Hotaru's point quite clearly and felt stupid for not seeing it sooner. This strong and very clever girl was different for Ami but she already liked her. "Don't worry about how you have changed. I am glad that you have grown and changed and I am sure the others will be as well."

Hotaru reached over and gave Ami a strong hug. "Ami you and Setsuna has always been the ones to see the truth of things quicker than the rest and I love you both for that." Ami smiled at the comment. With how difficult Hotaru had become at times she had wondered if maybe Hotaru didn't have any feelings for them anymore but now she didn't have to worry anymore.

"Well I am feeling much better now. Where are we going?"

"It is just over this hill to our left. I didn't bring us close because I wanted you to see the landscape first. Although what you are going to see is really amazing so get your computer out and ready to start recording."

Hotaru started moving with Ami right in tow and Ami got her computer ready with her free hand. It wasn't a long walk, only ten minutes or so, and Ami could start to make out what appeared to a structure in the side of a valley. It wasn't really much different from the ruins she had seen on the moon and she had expected to see ruins on the different bodies of the solar system. Now for someone like Hotaru who hadn't ever seen the ruins on the moon she imagined it was a really big surprise when she found them.

"Now I visited pretty much everything in the Solar System and only Pluto, Titan, and the asteroids had anything that was left on them. These ruins may not be much a surprise for you at first but once we get inside of them you are going to shocked and amazed. Also these ruins are over a million years old are were never built by anything to do with the Moon Kingdom. Before you ask, I was able to determine the age by examining the balances around them and the balance that is a part of them. I know that they weren't done by the Moon Kingdom because of their age and the fact that they have no magic or technology that fits with any part of the Moon Kingdom that we know of."

Ami was amazed about Hotaru's claim of the ruins age and if they had been here that long she started to wonder how long people had been out in the solar system. As they got closer she started making out the details and could tell that there were no signs of age or ware on the entrance to the ruins in the side of the valley. How could something so old show no signs of ware or be intact with the geological activity that should be present on any planet or moon? The answers weren't present but now they were getting to what Ami loved the most, a puzzle.

* * *

Once inside Ami looked around the entrance. A large dome was overhead covered with a moving image that swayed back and forth which reminded her of the waves of the ocean. On the floor she saw a patterned that contained a spiral that ran to the outside perimeter of the room. All around the perimeter of the room where columns made out a glass crystal with silvery tops and bottoms that anchored them to the floor and ceiling. At five points on the edge of the spiral circles were present but there weren't equally spaced. Two of the circles were closer together than the others. All along the spiral there was a sequence of interleaving lines that seemed to moved in and along the spiral. It was in amazing colors that seemed to change to different shades when looking at it. The was a very big, Ami thought about 50 feet in diameter, and quite pretty but the room didn't lead anywhere as there were no doors present. 

"Is this all there is? My computer doesn't show any doors and can't seem to scan past the walls. Actually everything in here is make of things the computer doesn't seem to understand and I find the readings hard to believe."

"If your readings are showing that it is perfect down to the molecular level then they aren't wrong. This place is only the beginning of a very big mystery for you Ami. The room is actually a travel room. It allows you travel to other locations by teleportation but only one location still exists. It is another room on this planet far below the surface and the only way to get there is use this room or know exactly where it is to be able to teleport in."

"Ok, so how do we activate it?"

"You walk to the center and the room will activate for you and show you where it can take you."

Ami walked over to the center and nothing happened. She tried concentrating on her magic to see if that would help but still nothing happened. "It doesn't seem to want to do anything for me."

"I figured that it might now work for you. These places don't react to Saturn's powers but will react to my essence. It took me a while to figure it out and I don't even seem to have what Saturn was anymore inside of me. After what a'Fal told us I am now sure that this place was formed by the combined power of the guardians."

"What do you mean that Saturn isn't a part of you anymore?" What Hotaru had just said really alarmed Ami. If Hotaru was no longer a Senshi what would the others do if they found out? Hotaru was still herself as far as Ami was concerned but the other Senshi, except for Setsuna, might have trouble trusting her if they found out.

"When I first came here I had to suppress what was Saturn deeply inside of me to get this place to respond. Now when I am here I can feel it calling out and reacting to me. It helps confirm my thoughts that I am no longer the Senshi of Saturn. I had started to suspect that my Senshi part was slipping away when it keep on getting harder and harder for me to use my old magic. The day I found my henshin pen cracked and falling apart had just about given me a heart attack but when I found that I could call forth my powers I felt better. It bugged me for a long time that maybe a part of myself was dying but as long as it allowed me to continue helping people I would be fine."

By the time Hotaru had finished talking she had a few tears working their way down her cheeks. Ami felt really bad that none of them were around to help her and she wondered why Setsuna hadn't done anything. "Hotaru did Setsuna help you?"

"She helped me out all the time. I told about what was happening and she told me that maybe it was possible for the Senshi to become so unified with their powers that they no longer needed to transform. It had made me feel much better but I could tell that Setsuna was very unsure."

Ami was about to respond when Hotaru said, "Enough talking about this. We have too much work to do to be wasting it on this."

With that said Hotaru walked over to Ami and the room seemed to just come alive when Hotaru let loose some of her power. Ami's computer picked it and beeped at her and when she looked at what it said and it scared her.

WARNING: GUARDIAN ENERGY DETECTED CLOSE BY. DESTROY AND NEUTRALIZE AT ALL COSTS.

Now she knew that what a'Fal had said was true to an extent and it scared her. Hotaru was still a person that Ami trusted but Ami didn't believe that a'Fal had told her everything and it was a very one sided story. She wanted to know if perhaps there were other reasons that people fought against the guardians. Ami really hoped that Pandora's box hadn't been opened.

Between the two closer circles an image appeared. The image showed a darkened room of enormous size with podiums, tables, stands, and all sorts of containers scattered though out. At the other three circles she could images but all that they showed was complete darkness.

"All of the images show locations that can be traveled to but the one were you can actually see anything is the only one that still exists. Take my hand and don't worry because this is an easy trip."

Ami took Hotaru's hand and the world seemed to shift and she now found herself looking around the darkened room that was pictured before. Her computer was beeping at her and she stopped and looked at it and then paled a bit.

Hotaru always got a kick out of traveling from the transportation room. It was very quick and pretty much perfect in how it worked. She couldn't follow all the details in how it worked because it used magic that she couldn't follow. She was sure that it was created by combined the powers from several different people. Now that she knew what she was she had a good idea of who were the people behinds its creation. She often wondered why the Senshi had several magical items but that they couldn't make any. Every attempt make ended as a complete failure.

She heard Ami's computer beeping at her. As Ami grabbed her computer and read it she became as white as a hospital sheet. Such a reaction from Ami always meant trouble. Perhaps her computer picked up on some unknown enemies around. Hotaru pulled her swords out and got ready.

"Ami what's wrong? Is there some enemy or danger in here that I missed?"

"Well I have some good news and then some bad news. First we don't have any enemies to deal with so you can relax about that."

She didn't relax. Any bad news from Ami was usually really bad. "So what is the bad news?"

"a'Fal was correct in stating that you are guardian because my computer sees you as one."

"Ok...So what is the bad news?"

"The computer is reporting this."

SATURN COMPROMISED. SATURN DESTRUCT PROTOCOL FAILED.

MERCURY COMPROMISED, GUARDIAN PRESENCE DETECTED ON HER PERSON.

LOCKOUT PROTOCOL ACTIAVED.

ACCESSING TIME GATE SYSTEM TO ELIMATE SATURN FROM TIMELINE.

INFORMING OTHER SENSHI OF PROBLEM.

"What the hell is this!"

"I don't know but I think you need to get this thread off of me. Right now I am locked out and can't get it respond to anything I do."

Hotaru grabbed the thread and it vanished. "I will move away a bit. This area is actually safe and the air is usable but just a bit light on oxygen so you will feel somewhat light headed." Hotaru walked away and dropped the shield she was maintaining.

Ami worked at her computer as fast as she could. Once Hotaru had moved away and stopped what she was doing the computer started to respond to her.

"Why did the computer do this now? It didn't react to what I had done earlier."

"I'm not sure but if that room was perhaps made by several guardians then perhaps it could sense that you used their power and not yours directly. a'Fal had said that you got a whole realm, so maybe when only using your power the computer wouldn't know that you changed. Since that room couldn't be used by Saturn that is probably what set the computer off."

Hotaru considered it and figured that Ami was right. She knew that she was the master of herself so anything setup to stop or control Saturn wouldn't work now. Now the Time Gate system was something to really worry about. Who knew the computer may be trying to do to the timesteam right now.

"Any luck Ami?"

"I just got it to start responding to me again. It is giving me a report on how to attack and destroy you."

Hotaru frown. She didn't think that any of the Senshi would have much luck without Usagi and the Ginzuishou to help them. Suddenly Hotaru turned as she felt a build up of power that made her feel very uneasy. As she expanded her senses she pickup up on a teleport in progress and knew that she had to stop them because who knew what Usagi and the others might do without knowing what is going on.

Hotaru focused hard and found the ripples in the balance around them and started disrupting them to send all of the other Senshi off to somewhere in America. "Ami you work as hard you can because the other Senshi just tried to teleport into here. I was able to stop for now. I will contact them and let them know that we are fine but try to get what ever it might be doing with the Time Gate stopped."

Ami's computer reported to her what Hotaru had done to stop the others from teleporting in. Ami figured that Usagi must have called on the power of the Ginzuishou to get all the inners together and then together they attempted to teleport in. She was getting really frustrated that her computer was not letting her stop the process that it had started with the Time Gate.

"Hotaru I can't seem to get the computer to stop what it is doing with the Time Gate. Do you have any ideas?"

Hotaru considered the question and realized that perhaps she might have an answer. "Ami give me your computer." Ami handed over the computer and Hotaru got to work. She focused on all of the parts and flows of the system and was able to isolate what was giving Ami trouble. She adjusted the system to disable the lockout and then found herself amazed at what she had just done. What a'Fal had said about guardians having great intelligence and skill was apparently turning into a reality for her.

"I have been able to remove the lockout by changing the structure of the program inside of the computer. You don't have to look that surprised because it also surprised me. Just get to work on stopping what is going on."

With that said Hotaru used her communicator to contract the others. Usagi's face appeared on the screen and she looked very upset and a bit mad. The mad part really scared Hotaru because Usagi almost never got mad unless it was about Mamoru.

"Hotaru what in the heck is going on and where are you? We all got a report on the communicators saying that you had gone rouge and that we should kill you as soon as we see you."

"Um, we are on Titan."

"Titan? What Titan?"

"Titan the moon."

"Just what the heck are you doing there and where is Ami!" screamed out Rei. She really seemed pissed off right then.

"Ami and I are fine. We were just doing some exploring when the computer when funky."

"I don't care that you are fine. When I get my hands on you guys you aren't going to be fine much longer. Do you have any idea of what I was doing?"

"Rei cut that out. We are just worried about what might be going on and when we tried to teleport to where you were we ended up on some grassy plains. Rei here started to assume the worst and Makoto started swearing about how much she was going to pound whatever monster had dared to come back."

"Ok Usagi. Who all is with you?"

"I have Rei, Makoto, and Minako with me. Setsuna was with Rei but left for the Time Gate when it all started." It suddenly clicked into place for Hotaru. She knew exactly what event was going to rip everything apart and she was a part of it.

"SHIT! SHIT! I have got to go guys. I will drop Ami off and then I have to go find Setsuna." Hotaru quickly ran over to Ami and grabbed her.

"Hang on Ami."

"What is going on" is all she got out before the world blanked out and she found herself tossed in Usagi's arms. She felt much worse on that jump and didn't understand what was going on.

"Hotaru what is going on?" but Ami found that she was talking to empty air. She looked at the others and asked the same question.

"We don't know any better than you but you can fill us in on the details of what kind of trouble the both of you were causing," stated Rei.

Before Ami got a chance to answer the world went white and it felt as everything around her was being ripped apart, herself included. She could hear the screams of her friends and suddenly found herself where her and Hotaru had just left from. A glowing silver thread was wrapped around her waist and she realized that Hotaru had done it just before leaving and somehow it seemed to protect her from what just happened. She tried to contract the others but couldn't get anything.

Ami sat down on the floor and started to cry. Why did such a thing have to happen to them now she wondered. All of them were having such a good life and it looks like Hotaru's fears had been confirmed. Ami knew that she would have to get to work soon and find a way back but right now she just wanted to cry.

* * *

Hotaru knew where the headache called the Time Gate was located so finding it wasn't that hard. Getting in was the hard part and it always took everything she had and today wasn't any different but she didn't have time to be tired from the jump in. 

"Setsuna! Setsuna! Come out quickly we have to work to do right now!"

"Hotaru what are you doing here? What's going on?"

"Don't worry about those things. What is the Time Gate doing?"

"I'm not sure but suddenly when I was with Rei I felt it startup on its own and start to process events in the timestream. I got the message on the communicators from Ami's computer but I don't understand what it is talking about."

"Apparently I'm actually something called a guardian and the Senshi were at war with the guardians. When Ami's computer detected what I had become it reacted. The computer first tried to issue some sort of self destruct that should be a part of Saturn and when that failed it contacted the Time Gate. I think it is going to try and make a change in the timestream to try and remove me."

"WHAT? Thats crazy. How could something like that even be setup? It will destroy tons of hard work and who knows what the outcome is going to be. It is beyond stupid to do that because you can't predict the outcome of some fixed plan to alter time from any point. DAMN IT!"

"I don't know how but you have to stop the Time Gate. If it tries to alter the timestream to remove me it will rip apart all of space time. Remember how I told you that I figured out that I had control over balances? Just think of what it might mean to destroy balance."

I quickly caught onto what Hotaru was saying and realized that I had to act quickly. The Time Gate was a slow machine but I could tell it was already locked onto most of Hotaru's threads in time. I grabbed her and we got right in front of the Time Gate.

"Just stay right next to me. If you are close I might be able to shield you when it acts."

I raised by staff and tried to command the Time Gate to obey me. It didn't work. I expected that but I still had other options. I pushed my staff into the keyhole on the frame of the Time Gate and channeled my powers into the it.

The Time Gate was working hard trying to figure out how to remove Hotaru and I could tell it was just as bad as what Hotaru thought it might be. The worst part was that the Time Gate was currently under a huge strain from all of the work it had been doing keep the timestream the way it was. The Time Gate apparently was going to try and dump most of that strain at Hotaru's threads in the timestream in an attempt to destroy the balance she controlled. It was the dumbest and most horrible thing I had ever come across. The damage would be uncontrollable and nothing would be the same ever again.

I accessed the command center of the Time Gate but found myself locked out. I tried all of the back doors that I was taught and a few I shouldn't have known about but none of them worked. I dug in as far as I could and then pushed some more before I was jolted so hard that it knocked me to the ground. It really hurt and I couldn't help it but I started to cry. Everything we had worked so hard on was going to come apart. Hotaru moved closer to me and embraced me.

"I won't let us just fall apart Setsuna. We are going to beat this because as you told yourself in your dreams something wonderful will come from this." I smiled at Hotaru for those words but still felt lost. The Time Gate was just seconds away from causing who knew what kind of damage and Hotaru was still a beacon of strength. I watched Hotaru pull out some silver thread and wrap it around my waist and she also put a loop around each wrist.

"What is this for?"

"It will allow me to track you and feel you. No matter what happens I will be able to find you. Just remembered that I will come for you no matter what happens."

"I will." With that said I felt the Time Gate attempt its stupid plan. Everything went black and I landed hard on my back and it really hurt.

Hotaru was free falling. She had always wanted to go sky diving but this wasn't how she wanted to do it. The ground was coming closer every second and she focused to slow herself down. It worked, but suddenly she hit something hard about the ground.

"Ouch. That really hurt." She looked down and found herself at least forty feet in the air on top of some sort of barrier. She examined it and realized it was designed to either keep something in or something else out. The barrier appeared to go on for several miles and she could see people and houses below. She figured her best option was just to go down there and see what she could find out.

She focused on the barrier and quickly slipped through. There wasn't enough time to do much to slow herself down again so she rolled when she hit the ground. Everyone started to run around screaming and she tried to calm the people down. Her attempts didn't have any effect. Several big guys with weapons started to come towards her. She tried to tell again that she wasn't a danger and just wanted to talk. None them could understand or they didn't care as they approached with malice in their eyes. She didn't want to fight but if she had to she would.

* * *

Author's Notes: I keep on going over this chapter again, again, and again. I had to stop or it would never get finished up. So it may not be perfect but it the start of what I wanted to get written. Now chapter 2 is going to take a turn for the dark for Setsuna. Actually very, very dark in places so if such things bug you I suggest skipping over them. The will be marked but I figured with Setsuna having such a strong will it would take a lot to break her. 

A lot of you may be thinking that everyone is OCC and well yes they are. I wanted everyone to have changed over the years. For those of you that have gone through college you understand how some people will always be the same while others turn 180 from where they were. I also wanted to have a very strong Hotaru for a change.


End file.
